ClipperFan

Vladimir, Congratulations on your amazing accomplishment! As soon as I saw the starboard broadside images of your massive Glory of the Seas replica, it reminded me of this famous 1869 fitting out scene of the actual McKay herself vessel in East Boston. In fact, since your replica is so large, there's even a bit of photographic distortion in your vessel's picture too. Since my family's been so plagued with back to back stressful accidents, I haven't had time to look in on your progress for a long time. As a result, I had no clue you were so much further along in your own progress. I was originally thinking I might have to wait to include your model in my second NRJ article but now that I've seen these images, you're much closer to finishing than I first thought. So now I will include your work with Rob's and will send you progress updates to keep you informed.

http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/News/BDA/BDA(1851-11-04).html Rick310, This may seem redundant but have you read the description of Flying Fish in Lars Bruzelius' website? Included in this highly descriptive publication, there's a list of precise specs on all masts, yardarms and even the bowsprit for McKay's clipper Flying Fish. In other article, the publicist Donald McLean refers to getting these quite accurate specifics from the shipyards themselves. Therefore, I would feel very confident in relying on the dimensions provided by this highly detailed Boston Daily Atlas, Nov 4th, 1851 article.

Hi Jared, It's been a long time since I've been able to look in on your impressive build. You're doing beautiful work. As I've been working on an article describing the rigging of Glory of the Seas, I've gained an appreciation of Rob Wiederrich's systemic and consistent rigginng approach. I encourage you to review his build post and ask him for any input you might like. Meanwhile, I've attached an image of the lubber holes of Glory, which are longer and larger than we first suspected. It will make shroud rigging easier too.

Luis, This stunning painting of "Clipper ship Sir Lancelot passing South Foreland" by Dutch Maritime Artist, Maarten Platje won the Dereck Gardner Award in 2018 at the 73rd Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Marine Artists. Here's a detailed description of this beautiful work: "The Clippership Sir Lancelot passes Dover Strait on an outbound voyage. The westerly breeze blows from the west and makes the vessel roll. The crew is making sail and the ship is gaining speed. The White Cliffs of Dover can be seen in the distance, with the lighthouse of South Foreland as a landmark at the right."

Hi Rob, I'm glad you enjoyed those. I really hope Luis liked them too. He's doing a hell of a job on one of the most beautiful Scottish tea clippers. I must be having more email issues again. I haven't seen communications from either Mike or you in a while now. I'm deep into writing the second Glory of the Seas article draft which is already even longer than the first because there's just so many details to cover to do the topic full justice. I'll send you a pm with my wife's email address to reopen communications. We just returned from a second hotel stay for 3 days while asbestos was removed from our kitchen. Now we have to move the stuff out of our son's bedroom, back to the kitchen, so that both rooms can have new floors installed. Meanwhile July 1st my son and I were t-boned by a guy who was speeding, made an illegal right pass, violated a right turn only signal, ran a red-light and smashed into us. Fortunately, other than scrapes and bruises, we're both fine. We'll probably seek therapy though, per the advice of an attorney. Meanwhile, my ultra-rare 1997 Cougar XR-7 30th Anniversary Edition in mint-condition which took 4 years to find, and I just registered March 20th is in real serious shape. Our family keeps asking "What hall of mirrors did we shatter?" Meanwhile, I want to return this thread to Luis Felipe and his impressive build.

Luis, This series of images are all from a 1-96th scale scratch-built model of the tea clipper Sir Lancelot in the Royal Museum, Greenwich, England. Here's how this lovely vessel built by I.W. Marsh is described: "Sir Lancelot (1865); Cargo vessel; Ship; Tea Clipper Scale: 1:96. A highly detailed exhibition full hull model of the composite ship 'Sir Lancelot' (1865). The hull of the model is copper sheathed and fully rigged with the yards braced round, the whole of which is mounted in its original glazed case. The 'Sir Lancelot' was built by R. Steele of Greenock, Scotland, and launched in 1865. Measuring 197 feet in length by 33 feet in the beam, the composite construction of wooden planking on iron frames was ideally suited for the punishing voyages she encountered whilst employed on the China tea trade. On its second trip in 1866, it was dismasted off Ushant and a year later, was converted to a barque rig. After 1883 the 'Sir Lancelot' traded mainly between Bombay, Calcutta and Port Louis. In 1885 it was lost in a cyclone off Sand Heads at the mouth of the River Hooghly while on passage from the Red Sea to Calcutta with a cargo of salt."

Luis, This series of images are all of Donald McNarry's breathtaking scratch-built scale tea clipper Sir Lancelot waterline miniature. This was originally on display at the American Marine Model Gallery, Salem, Massachusetts. What I found interesting is that his tiny figurehead is painted identically to the one in the Cutty Sark Museum. She also sports beautiful mint green bulkheads instead of the more prevalent white. McNarry is famous for his meticulous research on the vessels he builds. I find your version of tea clipper Sir Lancelot is every bit as impressive as Donald McNarry's, which is well deserved!

Luis, I found a couple historic photos of your subject model. The National Maritime Museum of South Australia has an amazing treasure-trove of literally dozens of these beautiful clipper ships. First pic is of Sir Lancelot in Shanghai in 1867 when she was just two years old. The other is years later in her career when she had her mizzen re-rigged as bark. What's notable is that her hull, fore and mainmast all look identical in both scenes. A tribute to her solid construction. Interestingly, her original Camelot Knight figurehead now resides beneath the 1869 tea clipper Cutty Sark Museum, Greenwich, England. His right arm originally held an uplifted sword while it seems like his left grips a shield, probably embossed with an English lion. Technically the figurehead is a bust, since his waist ends wrapped in a red garment. Contrary to Cutty Sark's pure white Witch 'Nannie' the Sir Lancelot figurehead is all natural, painted in brilliant colors. The Knight himself has dazzling blue eyes and sports a Fu-Manchu moustache reminiscent of a character from a Gilbert & Sullivan play.

Luis, I hope you don't mind, but since I'm somewhat familiar with this artist's work, it occurred to me that this particular image is washed out. I found a more colorful version and share it here. The full title of this work is: "Sir Lancelot downstream on the Thames" by French artist Roger Chapelet. You're doing an impressive job on a famously lovely tea clipper.

Rob, Mike has expressed his interest in seeing your completed model. Perhaps that's a start. Maybe later this year, when Mike's 3rd publication becomes available it may generate more interest. Perhaps a better approach would be to include your model as part of a collection of Mike's artifacts and rare photographs enlarged. You would think the publisher would have some interest in such promotional value.

Yankee Clipper, It may sound trite but this is truly sincere. I am deeply humbled by your very generous comments on my article. Since this was my first article published, I once again want to acknowledge the selfless tutelage of Druxey. He very generously agreed to edit my initial rough draft. Based on the enormity of red ink I received back, two thought occured to me. First, I realized how much effort Druxey put into carefully evaluating my punctuation. Specifically, the biggest novice mistakes I repeatedly made were run-on sentences. If my initial draft had been a car, it would have been analogous to a vehicle without brakes endlessly careening downhill... Second, the final ready for print manuscript was barely recognizable to the original draft submitted to Druxey. If you really enjoyed reading this article, a special recognition belongs to my invisible editor too.

Rick, I'm glad you enjoyed the article. I've seen a pdf version but yet to see it in the magazine itself yet. Regardless, accolades go out to Rob Wiederrich, who's single-minded pursuit of creating an historically scale accurate replica led to a fascinating domino effect. His efforts caught the attention of Arina "TheAuthor'sDaughter". This led to an eventual meeting with her dad, non other than the world's foremost authority on all things related to Donald McKay's final magnificent final clipper ship Glory of the Seas. Few realize that Mike, as he prefers to be called, has been researching this splendid vessel since 1955. Our small cadre has had the benefit of Mike's nearly 70 years of research. Each step of the way, Mike has generously provided us with his insight and to me, at least more exhilerating, his amazing seemingly endless cache of incredibly sharp contemporary photographs. Another significant contribution to this reconstruction effort has been made by Vladimir who's gifted CGI talents enabled him to create a backbone with bulkheads similar to Flying Fish kits. Vlad then generously provided Rob and I with sturdy 1:96th scale moldings. A personal thank you I owe is to Druxey who very generously took my somewhat amateurish mish-mash and guided me to a workable manuscript. Now I get to do this process all over again, as the NRJ editor has already given his approval for at least one more follow up article, since Rob has completed his 1:96th scale version. At the same time I plan to advocate for his impressive miniature to go on display, preferably in a local Western Seabord location. Residing on the East Coast, I would love to one day see his model myself. Perhaps we can generate more excitement since Mike's 3rd publication "From Whaler to Clipper Ship, Henry Gillespie, Down East Captain" gets released July 15th. Time will tell.

Vladimir, Thank you for the recognition of my soon to be published Nautical Research Journal 1st installment of "Reconstructing Donald McKay's Clipper Glory of the Seas" article. That's right gentlemen, NRJ's editor has already greenlit a 2nd installment following the completion of Rob Wiederrich's model. No guarantees but since Vladimir's larger replica is proceeding at a more modest pace, yet every bit deserving of recognition, I'm not ruling out the possibility of a 3rd article. As usual Vlad has minimized his own substantial contributions to this project. Taking advantage of his CGI knowledge, while I was seriously struggling with a 1:96 scale hull reconstruction using rulers, curved forms, sheets of 11"×17" paper taped together, Vlad incorporated all dimensions we unveiled and banged out Flying Fish style center piece with corresponding bulkheads. He then had one each custom produced for Rob, me and himself. Ours are 1:96th while Vladimir's is 1:72nd. I owe a personal debt of gratitude to Druxey who graciously volunteered to edit my manuscript prior to submission. From all the red ink which returned, I learned a humbling lesson. Who knew I wrote so many, oh so many.... run on sentences? Thank you Druxey for taking my random wordings and turning them into a submission that has now been accepted for publication.

Vladimir, Your talent as a creative artisan is clearly being way underestimated by.... you. This is beautiful, delicate scroll work, especially for a first effort. As for the coming pyramids, I imagine on the real vessel, they would have been thicker at the bottom, tapering thinner to their tops to mimic the real thing. Then it's a simple matter of scribing them to reproduce the large carved boulders which comprise the whole. I'm confident you'll get this done. Thanks for the brief detour from the dizzying labyrinth of rigging.

MikeR, I believe the point Rob's making is that, unless a yardarm is going to be permanently affixed to the mast, there's no need for a permanent band. In the case of all moveable yards, which sometimes were partially lowered when reefed in rough weather, they need greater mobility so they would only require the hinged parrell. There are more than one image of McKay's last clipper which show a much simpler arrangement of all upper yards. By the way, your hardware work is really beautiful.

MikeR your delicate machine work is simply amazing! Thanks for sharing.

Vladimir, I'm praying for your family that you have a rapid, full healthy recovery.

Snug Harbor Johnny I think you're right that the flag is being pushed by a different wind than the sails in your beautiful Europa picture. She definitely appears to be sailing with the wind directly abaft. I know what you mean, when you discuss the incredible artisanship of modelers like Mike R with his beautiful Clipper Flying Fish. The metal crafting and wooden spar scratch building that's done so casually is just mind-bending for novices like myself. EdT has set the bar at an unbelievable level. I have to admit to having a bit of a personal bias towards the two Glory of the Seas models, since I was deeply involved in collaborative research that led to a point where Vlad was able to create hull molds. Rob Wiederrich's 1:96th scale is a beauty to behold and I personally consider her to be the most accurate replica of the ship to date. Meanwhile Vladimir's even larger 1:72nd scale continues to be rigged and is another beautiful rendition of McKay's long lost final Clipper. A Nautical Research Journal article I wrote nearly a year ago is finally going to be published in February's issue. It should include some never before seen photos, courtesy of author Micheal Mejelde who was intimately involved in Rob and Vladimir's project.

1911 Europa: Steel Bark, 131 ft length, 24.4 ft beam, 15 ft depth of hold, 108 ft mainmast height. 1851 Flying Fish: Wooden Extreme Clipper Ship, 220 ft length, 40 ft beam, 22 ft depth of hold, 150 ft estimated mainmast height. In all fairness, this isn't an equal comparison, as the steel bark was originally constructed as a light ship while the California Clipper was a purposely built merchant vessel designed to powerfully sail through some of the toughest seas on the planet. Still, the latter vessel is referred to as a "Tall Ship" and she's a lovely ship. However, America's original, genuine "Tall Ships" truly scraped the skies and would be a wonder to behold today.

Snug Harbor Johnny That's a beautiful photo. What would be amazing to see would be how your Flying Fish would absolutely dwarf this modern day steel tall ship Europa. I'm going to look up the specs on the two to share and idea of the comparisons. But you're right, this image proves exactly what I'm talking about. In fact, in this image, based on the direction of the flag at the mainmast she appears to be sailing upwind.

MikeR, there's something so beautiful and elegant about an intelligently rigged sailing ship. Clipper ships especially represent the epitome of this highly technical, scientific effort to most efficiently harness the power of wind. You're doing an impressive job capturing that accurately. I'm also blown away by the precision craftsmanship of your spars. It's truly enjoyable to watch your progress!

Hi Pat, I appreciate your encouragement.

Druxey thanks for your encouragement. I share your hopes.

Re TBlack When you work with consummate professionals, they recognize a true state of emergency vs just an inconvenience. I just wish it was over. Rob, thanks for the sentiment. Given current circumstances, I honestly can't conceive of how 2023 can get any worse....

Hi Rob, Vlad, Druxey, Arina, et all, Due to experiencing a major emergency I missed the chance to wish you all a Merry Christmas. For the first time in my life, I will sctually be ringing in the New Year in a motel room. Our home has a frozen heating system due to losing power Dec 23rd. Thank God I had the foresight to rent a motel room in time. Power was restored Dec 25th but by then ice formed in one of the baseboards. Plumbers drained all water from the system, so no danger of flooding but we're still waiting for repairs to be done. Happy New Year everybody. Here's the publisher's website to order Mike's new book: www.tamupress.com